REFUTING ANOTHER UNITARIAN CANARD

Unitarians and other non-Trinitarians will often appeal to statements where Christ and his followers refer to the Father as Jesus’ God. Case in point:

“Jesus said to her, ‘Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, “I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God (kai theon mou kai theon hymon).’” Read full chapter John 20:17

Here, the post-resurrected Christ identifies the Father as being both his God and the God of his disciples.

The Apostle Paul did likewise in that he described the Father as being the God of Jesus even in his heavenly state where he has been exalted far above all creation:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,” 2 Corinthians 1:3

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ… that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the full knowledge of Him, so that you—the eyes of your heart having been enlightened—will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of the might of His strength, which He worked in Christ, by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, FAR ABOVE ALL rule and authority and power and dominion, and EVERY name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put ALL things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over ALL things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:3, 17-23

In this post I will address the reason why the Father can be Jesus’s God without this undermining the explicit teaching of Scripture that Christ is also God and therefore coequal to the Father in essence. I will demonstrate that the God-breathed Scriptures teach that it isn’t an either/or scenario, but rather a both/and situation, and that this unitarian objection is nothing more than a false dichotomy.

THE REFUTATION

The Scriptures plainly teach that YHWH is the God of all flesh, being the one and only God of the entire human race:

“Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, ‘Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?’” Jeremiah 32:26-27

“But they fell on their faces and said, ‘O God, God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the entire congregation?’” Numbers 16:22

“May Yahweh, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of Yahweh will not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” Numbers 27:16-17

The sacred writings further attest that Jesus became flesh, became Man, when he was conceived from and born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit (Cf. Matt. 1:16-25; Lk. 1:26-37). Christ did so in order to become the Servant of the Father for the express purpose of accomplishing the salvation of the world:

“in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, ‘Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen; My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased; I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel, nor cry out; Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A battered reed He will not break off, And a smoldering wick He will not put out, Until He leads justice to victory. And in His name the Gentiles will hope.’” Matthew 12:17-21

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

“For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines? But I am among you as the one who serves.” Luke 22:27

“For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers,” Romans 15:8

It is precisely from the moment of his human conception that the Father became his God, just as the following Messianic prophecies attest:

“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my groaning… In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You rescued them. To You they cried out and were granted escape; In You they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; They smack their lip, they wag their head, saying, ‘Commit yourself to Yahweh; let Him rescue him; Let Him deliver him, because He delights in him.’ Yet You are He who brought me out of the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts. Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God FROM MY MOTHER’S WOMB… For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet… They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots… I will surely recount Your name to my brothers; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.” Psalm 22:1, 4-10, 16, 18, 22 – Cf. Matt. 27:37-46; John 19:23-24; Heb. 2:12

“Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; They have laid siege against us; With a rod they will strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from everlasting, From the ancient days. Therefore He will give them up until the time When she who is in childbirth has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brothers Will return to the sons of Israel. And He will stand and shepherd His flock In the strength of Yahweh, In the majesty of the name of Yahweh His God. And they will remain Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth. And this One will be peace…” Micah 5:1-5a – Cf. Matthew 2:1-6; Lk. 2:1-7

In other words, the reason why the Father is Jesus’ God is because Christ is also human. By virtue of becoming a human being, Jesus now relates to the Father as all human beings do, namely, he is the Incarnate Son who honors the Father as his God.

And since Jesus will forever remain a Man with a glorified physical body of flesh, the Father will continue to be his God forever and ever:

“Now while they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace to you.’ But being startled and frightened, they were thinking that they were seeing a spirit. And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. And while they still were not believing because of their joy and were still marveling, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and He took it and ate it before them.” Luke 24:36-43

“But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. For David says of Him, ‘I saw the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; Because You will not forsake my soul to Hades, Nor give Your Holy One over to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’ Men, brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to set one of the fruit of his body on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither forsaken to Hades, NOR DID HIS FLESH SEE CORRUPTION. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this which you both see and hear.” Acts 2:24-33

“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now commanding men that everyone everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He determined, having furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31

“So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.” 1 Corinthians 15:45-49

“and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own which is from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God upon faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead… For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by His working through which He is able to even subject all things to Himself.” Philippians 3:9-11, 20-21

“For there IS one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the MAN Christ Jesus,” 1 Timothy 2:5

“Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God… He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels… He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God, and he will never go out from it anymore. And I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.” Revelation 3:2, 5, 12

This explains why the risen Christ is said to still be from the tribe of Judah and a physical descendant of David while in heaven:

“And one of the elders said to me, ‘Stop crying! Behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the scroll and its seven seals.’” Revelation 5:5

“I, Jesus, sent My angel to bear witness to you of these things for the churches. I AM the root and the DESCENDANT of David, the bright morning star.” Revelation 22:16

I.e., because Christ is still a human being (albeit a glorified One) he continues to have a human lineage that forever makes him an Israelite and a physical offspring of David.

With the foregoing in view, I will seek to demonstrate in the subsequent parts of my rebuttal that these same inspired writings affirm in the clearest manner possible that Christ is also truly God in essence and no mere creature.

Readers may now wish to proceed to the next part: JESUS’ GOD PT. 2.

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